This invention relates to a hose coupler and more particularly to a hose coupler of the type in which the male hose attachable body is speedily attachable to the female hose attachable body by the male body being received by and locked to the female body by the telescoping action of merely pushing the male body into the female body with a plug-in or slip-on fit.
In speed attachable hose couplers of this type the interlocking coupling of the male and female bodies is obtained by telescoping the male body into the female body, and uncoupling or disconnection of the male and female bodies is effected by a releasing device associated with the coupling which when manually operated permits the unplugging of the coupler bodies.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,562 discloses an improved speed slip-on or plug-in hose coupler of this type wherein the coupler is simplified to the point where the male body is a one-piece member, the female body is a one-piece member, the releasing device is a one-piece member, and the locking means comprises a pair of locking elements, each a one-piece member, the said members being moreover so associated and assembleable that each of them may be made as a molded plastic element.
More particularly, the aforesaid patent discloses a coupler of this type in which the locking means comprises a pair of locking elements, a washer and a compression spring. The compression spring acts against the washer, which in turn biases the locking elements into their interlocking position. Upon manual actuation sufficient to overcome the spring bias the releasing device forces the locking elements to retreat to a non-interlocking position, the locking elements in turn acting on the washer to compress the spring. While couplers of the type disclosed in the aforesaid patent have proven to be generally satisfactory, the use of such a multi-compenent interlocking mechanism not only increases the cost of manufacturing the coupler (both in terms of the material cost and the assembly cost), but also increases the likelihood of a malfunction of the coupler in use.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a speed slip-on hose coupler of simplified and improved structure.
Another object is to provide such a coupler in which the interlocking means is a unitary or one-piece component, thereby reducing both the cost of manufacturing the unit and the possibility of the unit's malfunction in use.